My wife and I spent two weeks in the Czech Republic and Austria in late September-early October. We stayed in four cities; Prague, Český Krumlov, Salzburg and Vienna. The weather was good; highs mostly in the 60’s and very little rain. We flew into Prague and returned home from Vienna.
Prague - We stayed four nights at a small, family run hotel, Dum u velke boty. Very friendly staff, great location, nice breakfast and big room. On our first day we had family member of the hotel owner, Tomas, take us on a 5 hour tour of Prague, very informative and enjoyable. The other two days we toured the Prague Castle, St. Vitus Cathedral, Jewish Quarter and Old Town Square. We really enjoyed watching people on the Charles Bridge. Around the corner from our hotel was a great restaurant, U Magistra Kelly. Small place and limited menu, but great food at a reasonable price. Prague is an amazing city to visit. This was our first time to Prague and 4 nights was enough time for us to do and see everything we wanted to.
From Prague, we traveled to Český Krumlov via a CK Shuttle private car. We made stops at Tábor and Písek. This gave us a chance a see less touristy towns in the Czech Republic. At Pisek, we ate lunch along the river and had a great view of the oldest bridge in the Czech Republic.
Český Krumlov - We stayed two nights at Pension Nostalgie. Great location, inexpensive rate, large room and nice breakfast. Although the lady that ran the place (I believe her son owns the pension) didn’t speak much English, it was not a problem. It was great having CK Shuttle take us right to where we were staying as the old town section of Český Krumlov is hard to drive in and you can’t park a car there. In the town square, just a few blocks from our place, they were having a festival with locals dancing, food vendors and booths with all kinds of items for sale. We ate some of the local food for dinner. We really enjoyed touring the Český Krumlov Castle, especially the masquerade ball room, and the Baroque Theater. Two night stay was adequate.
From Český Krumlov we traveled to Linz Austria airport via a CK Shuttle private car. We made a stop at Rozmberk Castle, which we toured. It was interesting and hardly anyone was there. At the Linz Airport, we picked up our rental car from Europcar. We then drove to Salzburg.
Salzburg - We stayed six nights at Pension Katrin. Very friendly, great room, nice breakfast, great location and car parking. Sandra was very helpful. We split our time between Salzburg and day trips to Hallstatt, Berchtesgaden and Grossglockner High Alpine road. In Salzburg, we followed Rick’s old town walking tour as well as we toured the Hohensalzburg Fortress. The views from the fortress are impressive, but the fortress tour itself is just OK. We also took a four hour Sound of Music bus tour, which my wife really enjoyed.
We had beauty weather in Hallstatt. The crowds were not bad until later in the day. We took the one hour lake boat ride, which was very nice. On our way back to Salzburg, we stopped at Bad Ischl and walked around.
We really enjoyed the Grossglockner High Alpine road. Part way up, we encountered heavy fog. We decided to drive over the pass and eat lunch in Heligenblut. On the way back over the pass, the fog cleared. The views of the snow covered mountains were fabulous. Definitely worth the drive.
We spent a day at Lake Königssee and Berchtesgaden in Germany. Lake Königssee was packed so we didn’t stay long. We booked a four tour with Eagle’s Nest Historical Tours. As a WWII buff, I really enjoyed the tour. We had a sunny day and the views from the Eagle’s Nest were awesome. We had dessert and drinks at the outdoor cafe and enjoyed the great views. Definitely would recommend taking their tour.
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